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Overheating

1

19xj87

NAXJA Forum User
Location
safford az
Have a 97 xj 4.0 automatic. Jeep was getting hot and overheating. Just re did head gasket was blown between cylinder 3 and 4. Now I have eliminated fan and fan clutch. Has 2 12" electric fans ran off toggle switch. Still got hot. Ordered and installed aluminum 3 core radiator and flow kooler water pump. Put in a new 180 t stat. Added a 3rd fan on front side as a pusher. Jeep still gets hot. I'm stumped now frustrated with it. Any input on what I am missing or need to look into next?
 
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Well, your mods are not adequate for cooling the 4.0L clearly. 180 stat is a band aid for some applications. Your 2 fans clearly do not pull the amount of air necessary. Flow cooler pumps are known to fail/cause problems. And 3 row rads have very small cores.
What you should look into, is probably not something you want to hear, but...
Stock replacement rad, or good 2 core with 1" rows. Install factory mech fan with a ZJ, non-MAX cooling clutch) and either a stock 10-blade e-fan or something that pulls same or more air. Install a premium 195 stat, drill small holes at 6 and 12 in it. Keep AC off.
 
Just pressure tested system t0 15-16 psi. No leaks. Went with 180 because I figured it would allow the coolant to circulate through the motor earlier and not get so hot. Since I don't wanna buy another radiator i guess I'll try a run the mechanical fan again and see what happens
 
Unless you live in Death Valley itself, a properly maintained stock open cooling system with a Heavy Duty radiator, mechanical fan + e-fan, will handle nearly anything.
 
Did you have the head checked for cracks prior to reinstallation? Or have it re-machined for flatness? I've had success pulling a head and reinstalling it. However, it doesn't always happen like that. It could still have a crack you couldn't physically see with the eye.

Also, what is the overheating like? Is it pegging to the red? Or just running 10-15 degrees hot?
 
Tim_MN said:
Unless you live in Death Valley itself, a properly maintained stock open cooling system with a Heavy Duty radiator, mechanical fan + e-fan, will handle nearly anything.
Click to expand...

^^^^^^ This^^^^^

I have a CFS 3 row + a Flowkooler pump. The rest is stock and it runs @ 200º-205º all day long unless I'm running the air.

Another thing to consider, is if the system was really gunked up before, you might have blockage in the water passages.
 
Ran a cleaner through it for a week before I put in New radiator and pump. But I got the stock mechanical fan put back on and now it's ok. Runs about 210 with a.c. on messing around in 4lo by the house. In town it's roughly 190. Think I'm gonna put the zj mad cooling fan clutch on like mentioned earlier just to be safe. To damn hot here in az summer time
 
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2 12" aftermarket fans aren't enough. Stock 10 blade electric + mechanical fan is what you need.

I'll also back up the statement to get rid of that 3 row and go back to a 2 row. We made that same change on the desert racer because the 3 row would get too hot. Also ditch the Flow Cooler. Either stock or Hesco. Again, racing taught us that lesson.
 
19xj87 said:
Ran a cleaner through it for a week before I put in New radiator and pump. But I got the stock mechanical fan put back on and now it's ok. Runs about 210 with a.c. on messing around in 4lo by the house. In town it's roughly 190. Think I'm gonna put the zj mad cooling fan clutch on like mentioned earlier just to be safe. To damn hot here in az summer time
Click to expand...

So what exactly is wrong with those temps? Those are perfectly fine.
 
Tim_MN said:
Unless you live in Death Valley itself, a properly maintained stock open cooling system with a Heavy Duty radiator, mechanical fan + e-fan, will handle nearly anything.
Click to expand...

Gomer does live in Death Valley, and in the summer, it's real marginal with a 2 wide row aluminum radiator, mechanical fan, ZJ extreme duty fan clutch (not it won't fit with a standard radiator) and 97+ XJ electric fan. No a/c, though it would sure be nice.

I went the triple electric fans route - it failed miserably.

I can idle forever with no issues, run down the highway at speed fine, but slow crawling up the canyons are problematic.

David Bricker / SYR
 
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